First Nations Communities READ 2023-2024

After his parents are brutally murdered, Ahiahia is raised by his grandmother in a camp surrounded by enemies. His grandmother knows that eventually the camp will turn on Ahiahia, just as it did his parents, so she chants a protection chant over the clothing that she lovingly sews for him, over the amulet and necklace she gives him, even over the dog that is his companion. When he is attacked, Ahiahia must use his agility, hunting skills, and the protection imparted by his grandmother to stay alive. This traditional story is retold by Kugaaruk Elder Levi Illuitok, and illustrated in a comic book style by Nate Wells, giving life to an ancient story for new generations to enjoy.

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"In this faithful retelling of a traditional story from the Kugaaruk region, told by Elder Levi Illuitok, a father must save his infant child from an amajurjuk, an ogress known to steal children. When the ogress takes advantage of the child's mother being blind to trick her into giving away her child, the child's father embarks on a quest to save his infant from certain death."-- Provided by publisher.

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In a near future, a young French Canadian biologist is making a name for herself by recreating marine ecosystems -- a process that will ultimately save them. In honour of her work, she is invited to participate in an Arctic expedition along with scientists from around the globe. While they are gone, humanity is almost entirely eliminated by a virus. Alone on the open sea, the exiled survivors experience these events with a forced detachment. During this, the biologist looks back on her life, jumping between the larger history of the world and the smaller story of her own family, as she tells the story of life itself, in all its forms.

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In this new edition of her powerful debut, Plains Cree writer and National Poet Laureate Louise B. Halfe -- Sky Dancer reckons with personal history within cultural genocide. Employing Indigenous spirituality, black comedy, and the memories of her own childhood as healing arts, celebrated poet Louise B. Halfe -- Sky Dancer finds an irrepressible source of strength and dignity in her people. Bear Bones and Feathers offers moving portraits of Halfe's grandmother (a medicine woman whose life straddled old and new worlds), her parents (both trapped in a cycle of jealousy and abuse), and the people whose pain she witnessed on the reserve and at residential school.

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"A new commemorative edition of Theodore Fontaine's powerful, groundbreaking memoir of survival and healing after years of residential school abuse. Originally published in 2010, Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools chronicles the impact of Theodore Fontaine's harrowing experiences at Fort Alexander and Assiniboia Indian Residential Schools, including psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse; disconnection from his language and culture; and the loss of his family and community. Told as remembrances infused with insights gained through his long healing process, Fontaine goes beyond the details of the abuse that he suffered to relate a unique understanding of why most residential school survivors have post-traumatic stress disorders and why succeeding generations of Indigenous children suffer from this dark chapter in history. With a new foreword by Andrew Woolford, professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Manitoba, this commemorative edition will continue to serve as a powerful testament to survival, self-discovery, and healing."-- Provided by publisher.

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"Sixteen-year-old Josh is no stranger to gang life. His dad, the leader of the Warriors, a gang on their reserve, is in jail, and Josh's older brother has taken charge. Josh's mom has made it clear the Warriors and their violence aren't welcome in her home--Josh's dad and brother included. She wants Josh to focus on graduating high school. Josh is unsure whether gang life is for him--that is until gang violence arrives on his doorstep. Turning to the Warriors, Josh, now known as "Creeboy," starts down the path to becoming a full gang member--cutting himself off from his friends, family and community outside the gang. It's harder than ever for Creeboy to envision a different future for himself. Will anything change his mind?"-- Publisher's website.

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A collaboration exploring the importance of the Ojibway-Anishinabe worldview, use of ceremony, and language in living a good life, attaining true reconciliation, and resisting the notions of indigenization and colonialization inherent in Western institutions. Indigenization within the academy and the idea of truth and reconciliation within Canada have been seen as the remedy to correct the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and Canadian society. While honourable, these actions are difficult to achieve given the Western nature of institutions in Canada and the collective memory of its citizens, and the burden of proof has always been the responsibility of Anishinabeg. Authors Makwa Ogimaa (Jerry Fontaine) and Ka-pi-ta-aht (Don McCaskill) tell their di-bah-ji-mo-wi-nan (Stories of personal experience) to provide insight into the cultural, political, social, and academic events of the past fifty years of Ojibway-Anishinabe resistance in Canada.

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At the time of the spring thaw, the Rocky Cree fill their canoes with furs, eager to trade with the new visitors in mistiwāsahak (Hudson Bay). But not all of the new visitors are welcome.

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"In this harrowing survival story, Brian Koonoo takes off on a hunting trip in Canada's Arctic. After his snowmobile breaks down, his GPS loses signal, and his camping fuel runs low, Brian is left alone to survive for seven days. He experiences close encounters with planes, blizzards, and hunger, all while much of his gear is lost, and walking 60 kilometres in search of safety. He uses the knowledge his father and Elders taught him--modern and traditional means of navigation, finding water, making shelters, and keeping his spirits up--to continue on. This true tale of survival is presented in a journal style with illustrations, photos, and diagrams."-- Provided by publisher.

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"This story is about the lands I was raised on. I come from the Gitksan and Nisga'a Nations, two neighbouring Nations that are tucked in the vast mountains of the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. Our Adaawk, our oral history, brings us back to the time before the sun, making our relationship to the land, water, and all of the beings who live on it very strong. "Majagalee" is the Gitksan and Nisga'a word for "flower." It is also an endearing term Gitksan calls their children. This story weaves childhood memories of being closely tied to the land and all of the beautiful things I have witnessed within our culture and traditions as I've grown to become a Mother. This story also focuses on the love that breathes in our communities as we continue to walk through the seasons, following in the footsteps of our Ancestors."-- Provided by publisher.

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In the last few years, following the publication of his debut novel Jonny Appleseed, Joshua Whitehead has emerged as one of the most exciting and important new voices on Turtle Island. Now, in this first non-fiction work, Whitehead brilliantly explores Indigeneity, queerness, and the relationships between body, language and land through a variety of genres (essay, memoir, notes, confession). Making Love with the Land is a startling, heartwrenching look at what it means to live as a queer Indigenous person "in the rupture" between identities. In sharp, surprising, unique pieces--a number of which have already won awards--Whitehead illuminates this particular moment, in which both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples are navigating new (and old) ideas about "the land." He asks: What is our relationship and responsibility towards it? And how has the land shaped our ideas, our histories, our very bodies? Here is an intellectually thrilling, emotionally captivating love song--a powerful revelation about the library of stories land and body hold together, waiting to be unearthed and summoned into word.

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For Hunter Frank, the summer of '79 has been a good summer, but the cash in the purple Crown Royal bag hidden in his mattress still isn't enough to fund his escape from his monstrous mother and the town of Red Rock. As the Labour Day weekend arrives, so does a new friend with old wisdom and a business opportunity that might be just what a boy at the crossroads needs. My Indian Summer is the story of a journey to understanding that some villains are also victims, and that while reconciliation may not be possible, survival is.

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In "The Net," a girl and her mother arrive at their secluded cabin on a frozen lake to find their fishing net has been attacked, a massive hole ripped through the middle. After the net has been mended and the night's catch eaten, the daughter sits awake playing with a bit of leftover netting string. When she was a girl, her grandmother taught her to make string figures--just as her mother had taught her--a game played by Inuit for generations, but a game not to be taken lightly . . . as the daughter plays late into the night, and the mother sleeps, other monstrous forces are soon awakened from beneath the frozen lake. In "Before Dawn" a young boy runs out onto the tundra to play with his new friend by his side, venturing far beyond his mother's rule that he not stray past the inuksuk on the horizon. The boy's friend beckons him farther and farther, and the farther they get from home, the more the friend seems to change . . . until he is no longer human at all. Horrified, the boy listens to the creature's proposition: return home before dawn, or be lost forever to the other side . . .

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Anishinaabe culture and storytelling meet Alice in Wonderland in this coming-of-age graphic novel that explores Indigenous and gender issues through a fresh yet familiar looking glass. Aimée, a non-binary Anishinaabe middle-schooler, is on a class trip to offer gifts to Paayehnsag, the water spirits known to protect the land. When Aimée accidentally wanders off, they are transported to an alternate dimension populated by traditional Anishinaabe figures in a story inspired by Alice in Wonderland. To gain the way back home, Aimée is called on to help Trickster by hunting down dark water spirits with guidance from Paayehnsag.

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Candy Palmater loved to connect with people. She lived for the stage, her effervescent presence on television and radio ignited and inspired audiences, touching them with her warm, often spicy humour as well as her positive message about love and kindness. Candy described herself as a queer Mi'kmaw lawyer-turned-comic raised by bikers in rural New Brunswick and on the surface, she met with enormous success, but she is the first to tell you she made all kinds of mistakes and experienced all kinds of failure along the way.

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"A young Indigenous girl searching for a sense of home finds strength and courage in her gifts, her deepening connection to the land, and her own cultural awakening in this moving coming-of-age story. The last thing that twelve-year-old Misko wants to do is to move away from the city to spend time on the rez with her grandmother. She feels strangely compelled to go to the place where her dreams have been tugging at her to come home. Maybe she can finally find out what happened to her mother, who mysteriously disappeared when she was four years old. Misko discovers her unique ability to connect to a spirited horse named Mishtadim who is being violently broken in by the rancher next door and his son, Thomas. Although Misko and Thomas challenge one another, their friendship is forged through the taming of the wild horse. In the process, she realizes the true meaning of belonging and that you can never truly leave home. She Holds Up the Stars is a powerful story of reconciliation and the interwoven threads that connect us to family, to the land, and to our own sense of self."-- Provided by publisher.

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"No one knows how a suit of samurai armour ended up in the Fort Smith museum. When a mysterious stranger turns up to claim it, Sonny, a young Tłı̨chǫ Dene boy, is eager to help. Shinobu has travelled to Fort Smith, NWT, to reclaim his grandfather's samurai sword and armour. But when he discovers that the sword was lost in a poker game, he must confront the man known as Benny the Bank. Along the way, Shinobu must rely on unlikely heroes--Sonny, his grandmother, and a visitor from the spirit world. Together, they face Benny and his men, including the giant they call Flinch. Will Shinobu be able to regain the lost sword and, with it, his family's honour? Can Sonny and his grandmother help Shinobu while keeping the peace in their community? Now in full-colour, this new edition includes additional background information and cultural context. Learn about the real-life inspiration behind the story and the intersections between Indigenous and Japanese-Canadian experiences during the Second World War"-- Provided by publisher

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After discovering a near-lifeless Eli at the base of the Great Tree, Morgan knows she doesn't have much time to save him. And it will mean asking for help -- from friends old and new. Racing against the clock, and with Arik and Emily at her side, Morgan sets off to follow the trail away from the Great Tree to find Eli's soul before it's too late. As they journey deep into the northern woods, a place they've been warned never to enter, they face new challenges and life-threatening attacks from strange and horrifying creatures. But a surprise ally comes to their aid, and Morgan finds the strength to focus on what's most important: saving her brother's life.

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Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She'll be working in her family's ice-cream shack with...her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago...But when she gets a letter from her biological father...Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him...While King's friendship makes Lou feel safer...when her family's business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can't ignore her father forever.

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Following a devastating tragedy, Matthew and his sixteen-year-old daughter, Holly, head out onto the land in search of a long-lost cabin on the family trapline, miles from the Cree community they once called home. Each of them searching for something more than a place. When things go wrong during the journey, they find they have only each other to turn to for support. What happens to father and daughter on the land will test them, and eventually heal them, in ways they never thought possible.

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"A heartrending true story about racial injustice, residential schools and a path forward Divided by a beautiful valley and 150 years of racism, the Waywayseecappo reserve and the town of Rossburn have been neighbours nearly as long as Canada has been a country. Their story reflects much of what has gone wrong in relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. It also offers, in the end, an uncommon measure of hope. In the town of Rossburn, once settled by Ukrainian immigrants, the average family income is near the national average and more than a third of adults have graduated from university. By contrast, the average family on the Waywayseecappo reserve lives below the national poverty line and less than a third of adults have graduated from high school, with many living in the shadow of the residential school system. Valley of the Birdtail is about how these two communities became separate and unequal--and what it means for the rest of us. The book follows multiple generations of two families and weaves their experiences within the larger story of Canada. It is a story with villains and heroes, irony and idealism, racism and reconciliation. A story with the ambition to change the way people think about Canada's past, present, and future."-- Provided by publisher.

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The 'Micmac Indian Craftsmen' of Elsipogtog rose to national prominence in the early 1960s. Inspired by traditional Wabanaki stories, they created an eclectic range of original work that appeared on prints, silkscreened notecards, tapestries, jewellery, and porcelain. Now, for the first time, the story of this ground-breaking co-operative of modern Indigenous artists is told in full.

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